Candles Burn
by Sparker
Summary: *FINISHED!* A Sarah fanfic...for all those Sarah and Jack fans out there...am I the only one?* Thanx for all the reviews...this is my FIRST fanfic! Keep on REVIEWING so I'll know to keep WRITING!*
1. Sarah On the Warpath

Candles Burn  
  
Sarah pushed into her apartment, slamming the door loudly behind her. She was so angry! If David came anywhere near her, she would.  
  
"Hey Sarah! How was work today? You know, Race just told me." David stopped mid-sentence once he got a look at the fury in Sarah's face.  
  
Sarah glared at her little brother, too mad to speak. She pointed a shaking finger at David's freckled face, stuttering, "You.you."  
  
"Whassamatta?" David asked, awkwardly, sounding like his best friend for just a minute. "Was it something I said? Wait a minute," Now David turned anxious. "Was it something Jack did? If it is, just say the word, and I'll soak him for ya."  
  
Finally, Sarah was able to finish a sentence. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" She shrieked, chasing after he brother, who just decided that now would be a great time to get the hell outta there. Jumping over a couch, David stumbled, Sarah hot at his heels. Picking himself up, he ran blindly into the kitchen and around to the other side of the wooden table. Sarah tried to run around to get to him, but they just ended up circling the table, around and around and around..  
  
"Sarah! Just tell me what's wrong! What happened?" David asked while dodging the spoons and forks that came whizzing next to his face, lodging into the wall behind him. Gulping, David dived under the kitchen table and made a mad dash for the door.  
  
But Sarah was right behind him, and a second before he could wrench the door open she thrust out a hand to keep the door shut. David cowered, Sarah's face an inch from his, waiting to see what would happen. 


	2. Hell Hath No Fury Like A Woman Scorned

Disclaimer: Sorry I forgot about this minor detail in my first chapter. I don't own any Newsies, as much as I would like to, Disney does. Ok, that's done.  
  
Sarah's face was an inch from David's, and it wasn't making the situation any better. David squirmed, Sarah's eyes boring into him. Finally, he gathered enough courage to speak.  
  
"Sarah? W-what happened?" David whispered. Then, he watched with astonishment as tears started to fill his siblings eyes. Not one to be good with criers, David waited silently and puzzled for Sarah to make the first move.  
  
Sarah couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't even look at her brother's face without having the urge to scream and cry angry tears. Feeling the wetness on her face, she realized that any self-control she had before was long gone. Exhausted from her rants, she moved away from a scared-looking David and the door, collapsing on the chair. Plopping her feet on the ottoman - never mind her mothers knitting - Sarah dissolved into a blubbering mush.  
  
"H-h-how could you d-do this to me?" She spluttered. "You're supposed to be my b-brother! How could you b-betray me l-l-like that?" She wiped her eyes with her shawl, grabbing her brothers arm witch he had put awkwardly around her to blow her nose on David's sleeve. David didn't protest. In fact, he hardly even noticed. What was Sarah talking about? He voiced his opinion.  
  
"What are you talking about?" He asked, his voice filled with fear. Ever since the strike, he made a promise to himself that he would never become a traitor like Jack had in those few delusional moments. Never. And even though he hadn't the faintest idea of what Sarah was babbling about, if she felt that way.he swallowed. Hard.  
  
"You know what I'm talking about, u big oaf!" Sarah yelled, throwing David's snot-covered arm off her and turning around to face him. "You know exactly if I have to explain it to you, then your dumber than I thought!'' She stood up and shoved a finger right into his chest. "But since that's the case here, I'll tell you! What the HELL were you thinking when you told Jack that he needed your permission?!?"  
  
David looked at his sister like she had gone bonkers. Truth to tell, she had, but still. "Tell Jack he needed my permission for what?"  
  
" You know! G-d, I can't believe you sometimes! Who died and made you my owner? Why in the world would Jack wanting to marry me have to depend on weather or not YOU approve? It's my life, David, so stay out of it!"  
  
David stood stock-still for a minute, just staring at Sarah, not comprehending what she just said. Then, he burst out laughing. He was laughing go hard, in fact, that he started to choke and Sarah, regardless of her anger towards him, ran to get him a glass of water.  
  
David downed the glass of water and was able to control himself enough to speak. "M-My permission? Ha ha! Jack doesn't need my permission for anything! Since when does he care about asking permission? He he! This is too good. Wait till I tell the guys.wait a minute. What did you say? JACK WANTS TO MARRY YOU?"  
  
Now it was David's turn to fall into the armchair. Jack? Ready to get married? To his sister? Sarah? The thoughts tumbled around in his head, crashing into one another, not making a bit of sense. Permission? Who needed to whose permission again?  
  
His sister, from across the room, watched as her brother went from hysterics to confusion, thinking deeply with his furrowed brow in the brown tweed armchair. Sarah turned the empty glass around between her fingers. What was David doing? She never understood him. She remembered what Jack had said, as if he had said it to her a minute ago...  
  
AN HOUR AGO  
  
Sarah was on her way to the Lodging House, tired but satisfied after her long hours in the textile factory. Although no longer a newsie, Jack still boarded there. He now worked for a printer as an apprentice, hoping to own a press of his own one-day.  
  
Him and Sarah were still going strong, after three years of steady dating, or "courtship" as Jack liked to call it. "You'se my goil, Sarah. You'se a lady, and I'se got to treat you like one." He used to say. She loved it when he looked at her with his warm brown eyes, so similar yet different than her own. While both sets of brown eyes, were well, brown, his were tinged with hardness. Hers were touched with naiveté. Jack knew this, and tried to protect her from everything that had made a side of him untouchable. Sarah knew this and loved him all the more.  
  
On her way, Sarah's face was glowing with that special knowledge every person has when in love. Her gait was light and bouncy, and the package of cloth she held in her arm was weightless. She was going to see Jack in a minute or so, and she had a feeling that Jack was going to pop the question soon. They had known they were going to marry from the time Jack took her to the docks in the harbor to see the stars. Both had felt it in their kiss, when an everlasting bond was made. No words had needed to be spoken. A look, a touch, was good enough for them.  
  
But not good enough for the rest of the world. Jack would have to make a formal proposal sometime. Now was a good time as any. They both has steady work, both were almost 20. What time could possibly be better? Sarah hugged herself with joy. Seemed she was always in a good mood these days. In the distance, the Lodging House sign became clearer as Sarah drew closer. She picked up her pace, anxious to see Jack again before she had to return home for dinner. He long brown hair flying behind her in the wind, she approached the House door and pushed it open.  
  
But the large room that served as the dining room/living room/extra bedroom/casino/bar was empty. Sarah glanced at her watch. It was already almost 5 o'clock. Where was everyone? Surely they couldn't be selling this late into the afternoon. She looked up the rickety stairs that led to the bunkroom. Should she go up? Nervously twisting her light blue skirt, she remembered the last time she went up there without telling anyone. That picture of Race in nothing but a cigar? Not going to leave her head anytime soon. She still blushed sometimes when she saw him. The other guys thought it was hysterical, of course.  
  
Glancing around one last time, she resigned herself to not seeing Jack until tomorrow. Oh well, at least she came. Even Kloppman wasn't here. Must be something big, she thought.  
  
Sarah was just about to leave, a little less cheerful then when she had arrived, when she heard voices. Not the little nagging ones inside your head that make you crazy, but real, human voices. The kind you want to go eavesdrop on. Especially since one sounded suspiciously like her true love's. Where we the coming from? Sarah looked at the door in the corner, the one she almost forgot about. It led to a small kitchen. But no one went in there unless they wanted to spend a little "private time" with someone. So what was Jack doing in there?  
  
Tiptoeing to the corner of the room, she pressed her ear to the faded planking and listened in. She heard Jack's voice, and someone else's..was that Kid Blink? No, it sounded more like Crutchy. Maybe it was both? Sarah hugged the door closer. She wished she had a glass. The conversation started again. "Listen, Crutchy, I don't know what ta do." So then she was right. Bingo! It was definalytly Jack talking. But what did Jack ever talk to Crutchy so privately about? David was his best friend, not him. She heard them talking and spaced in again.  
  
".I can't understan it." That was Kid Blink. " Why would David tell ya somethin like that? I mean, he knows ya gonna take real good care of Sarah. So why did he warn ya?"  
  
"I dunno, Blink." Jack again. "I mean, I love Sarah. She's me life." Sarah, outside, felt all warm and fuzzy at his words. "But now, Davey's makin me niouvus. I mean, if he can't even trust me with his own sista, when who's ta say he's gonna trust me wit anytin' else?"  
  
Sarah heard Crutchy hem and haw before answering, his crutch thumping against the floor. A little habit he had when he was agitated. "Jack, I think you should..ah..just do it. I mean, if its so impoitant for Davey, den make him happy. Ask for his poimission, and den it'll be ova. Dat's all. He's ya best friend, Jack. "  
  
"Still," Said Jack, his voice leaking out from between the cracks in the old door, "Since when does David want me to ask his permission before I ask Sarah to marry me?"  
  
Sarah didn't know weather to be furious or insanely happy. On one hand, it was always nice when her boyfriend talked about her like that. On the other hand, WHAT THE F---K WAS DAVID DOING? Grabbing her bundle, she hightailed out of there when her anger won over. Boy, was David going to get it this time. 


	3. David's Mistake

Thanx sooo much, all the people who reviewed! You guys make it worth it to keep writing. Thanx again! Keep reviewing! Disclaimer - I do not own any Newsies...poor me.  
  
BACK TO THE PRESENT Sarah glared at David, who continued to look into space, totally oblivious to anything around him. Sarah broke the silence with icy words.  
  
"So? What were you on then? Sniffing the glue again, David dear? I don't know weather to kick you or just tell Papa about that magazine you have stashed under your bed..both those things would be equally satisfying..."  
  
David spaced in with a start. "Sarah, you better not say a word to Papa! He'll kill me!"  
  
"Not if I get to you first! And you still didn't answer my question. What the hell were you thinking? And I can't even tell Jack to ignore you, because he doesn't even know I know!" Then a horrible thought struck her. Unbelievingly, Sarah realized.."Is that why Jack's waited so long to ask? Because he couldn't face asking your permission?"  
  
Oh, boy. David knew he was in real trouble now. Quick, he needed something to divert her..looking around the room wildly, David's blue eyes met nothing. Besides, Sarah was to smart for that. Curse that private school education..  
  
"DAVID JONATHAN JACOBS!!" Sarah finally exploded. "ANSWER MY QUESTION OR ELSE...." She picked up a butter knife threateningly.  
  
David gulped. What to do now? Admit it? Heck, he didn't even know what he was admitting to! He was drunk, for G-d's sake, when he was joking around that night in Brooklyn..he never knew that Jack was going to take him seriously..  
  
THREE WEEKS AGO The group was at the docks in Spot's territory. It had been a big selling day, and David had only to make up a few headlines for the hard-sellers. Even though Jack wasn't a newsie any longer, David, at a year younger, still had time before his father would make him get a "real job." All his papes gone, he was in a good mood, and when Jack suggested getting some drinks and going to visit Spot - "I'se got some bisniss to conduct, anyhow" - David was all for it.  
  
It was just Spot, Jack and David leaning against the wooden posts, staring at the stars. David gulped down the last of the beer, tossing the bottle into the water. Geez, he was really gonna have to cut back on that stuff. Did Jack always have such a high, wavery voice? Christ, he sounded like a girl. David squinted up at his friend, listening to his voice as he spoke with Spot.  
  
"Ya gotta heah me, Spot. It aint funny what the otha newsies ah doin to us." Jack still considered himself the leader of the Manhattan newsies, as he still lived with them in the Lodging House. "Undasellin, cutting thieh losses...I don't know what ta do. Maybe Pulitzers behind 'em? Hell, this is statin to sound just like the strke..."  
  
"Don't worry so much, Jacky-boy." That was Spot, coming in with his soft, arrogant drawl. "Da otha newsies know they don't stand a chance. We'll just soak em if we havta..."  
  
"They betta undeastand, Spot. I don't think pull antha one like the strike..they betta just be playin."  
  
David was fading in and out. Jack and Spot's voices seemed to be getting louder and softer at different time. Why couldn't they just talk at one level? I'll never understand Jack, David thought. Even if he is gonna be my brother-in-law, sooner or later. Wait a minute, who says? Who says that Jack could marry Sarah? David scraped his head on the wooden beam while trying to stand up. She's my sister, he reasoned. I have a say in what goes on here!  
  
"Hey Jack! Listen, I was thinking..."  
  
"Yeah, Davey?" Jack said, looking up from his conversation with Spot. Realizing that David was about to plunge headfirst into the cold water of the East River, Jack grabbed his friends arm and slung it around his shoulder. He turned to face David and in the process got a whiff of David's alcohol saturated breath.  
  
"Whoo, Davey! I think its time to lay off tha beer, huh, buddy?" Jack said, grinning. "Let me take ya home know, ok? We'se gonna have ta sneak ya in...ya momma betta not see ya like this." Jack started pulling David along, glancing at Spot over David's curly head. Spot was cracking up.  
  
"Yeah, Davey, run along." Spot said, sniggering. "Betta make sure ya hid this from the guys. Ya don't want them ta know Davey cant hold his likker!" Chuckling, Spot jumped off his perch on one of the dock posts and disappeared from view.  
  
"Ya know, Jack? I was thinking. It isn't..isn't right...tha-that you get to marry Sarah..without asking my permission...first. So, you go.gotta ask me.before you..you ask her." David was stumbling over his words as well as his feet. "Got it, Jack? You.better ask me...before you ask...ask her..." David managed to get those last words in before passing out on his friends shoulder.  
  
Jack looked, troubled, at his best friend, who was unconscious. What was he yammering about? And what was he gong to do with him? Glancing up, he realized that they were almost at Davey's house, anyway... He dragged David up the fire escape and into his bed, Jack's arms screaming. Looking around the small bedroom, Jack smiled as he saw Les sleeping with his thumb in his mouth - even at 12 - and reached over to rumple the kid's soft hair. Finally, he planted a tender kiss on Sarah's head. He would have kissed her lips, but Sarah always slept on her stomach.  
  
Jack walked to the window and, throwing one leg over the sill, turned around and whispered into the dark and silent room.  
  
"Whatever ya say, Davey. I'll ask you first.."  
  
A last glance at his girlfriends sleeping body and he was gone, with only the curtains blowing in the breeze of the open window to show Jack had been there at all. 


	4. The Plan

Disclaimer - I don't own any Newsies, or anything related to the Newsies...G-d, I'm pitiful.  
  
BACK TO THE PRESENT - AGAIN  
  
David was thrust back into the present with a start when he felt a tugging at his hair. Reaching up, he felt the butter knife that had been thrown at his head had snagged three of dark curls. Now both the knife and his hair were stuck firmly to the wall.  
  
"Are you nuts?" David yelled, wrenching the knife out of the wall, ripping some of his hair out in the process. He completely understood why Sarah was mad at him, but this was going a little to far. "You could have killed me!"  
  
"As much as I would like to, David dearest..." Sarah looked at her brother with a smirk. "That was Les who threw the knife. Said as long as you weren't paying attention he would practice his throwing skills."  
  
Sure enough, David was able to see Les's brown eyes peeking out at him from behind Sarah's skirt.  
  
"Sorry, David." Les said, who was trying not to smile and look really sorry. "I couldn't resist - and you always tell me not to pass up an opportunity, right?" David gave Les a look, and the younger boy shrank back to hide behind his sisters skirt.  
  
Sarah looked from one brother to the next. She wasn't finished with David yet. He was always a good speaker, a good diplomat - the "Walking Mouth" Jack called him sometimes. He had managed to get out of answering the question this time, but after dinner.....  
  
"Listen, David, I can't discuss this anymore." David breathed a huge sigh of relief at his sister's words. Then his bubble burst as she continued. "Right now. Les and I have to go make dinner, and when we are all finished eating..." She trailed off threateningly. Grabbing Les's shoulder, she turned around to the kitchen without another word.  
  
David was left alone in his corner of the living room. What was he going to do? To him, the answer seemed clear. He had no real excuse why he said what he said and did what he did. He couldn't admit he was drunk outta his mind because Sarah would kill him even more. So, he had approximately....lets see, if dinner was at 6:30 and it was 4:45 now...about an hour and 45 minutes to hightail over to the Lodging House, explain the whole situation to Jack, and get him to propose to Sarah before it was too late.....if Sarah promised heads would roll, David thought as he quietly picked himself up off the armchair and snuck out of the window onto the fire escape, then heads would surely roll. And David did not want his to be one of them. 


	5. The Itchy Resolution

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANY NEWSIES. WISHES DON'T ALWAYS COME TRUE.  
  
Jack had an itch. Not a little one, one that you could scratch yourself and be done with. No, this one was a humdinger, smack in the middle of his back and itching like a mother. All the guys were out selling, and Jack, alone with his itch, was trying every conceivable method of back scratching available.  
  
First, he tried the walls. But the wood was smooth with age (and dust). Then he tried the corners of the doorframe, but abandoned that idea when he saw the amount of splinters in his shirt. Unbuttoning the worn gray flannel, he sat down on Race's bunk - Jack slept on a top one - and proceeded to pick the shards of wood out one by one.  
  
Could this day get any worse? Jack moaned inside his head. No, that didn't seem possible. First, that confounded itch! He reached behind him to try to scratch it, but even Jack's long arms couldn't reach the middle of his back. Boy, it would be nice if Sarah were here to scratch it....  
  
Then a frown creased Jack's tanned face. What the heck was with David and Sarah? Jack had mulled over the problem of asking David for permission constantly for the last three weeks. He never seemed to arrive at a solution. Since when did Davey have the right to demand something like that? What was he, Sarah's keeper?  
  
No, it wasn't really that, as much as Jack tried to pretend it was.  
  
"It's me pride....it's me damn pride dat's doin this...Jack, ya should just ax...it wont kill ya...." Jack whispered to the empty room. "Jist ax Davey, an then you'se gonna be able to prapose...finally...." He trailed off when he heard footsteps on the stairs. Who was done selling at this hour? It was only the middle of the afternoon.  
  
Jack sighed. He was looking forward to napping the whole day, after his boss Mr. Edwards had gotten the flu and given all his workers the day off. Tossing his still-splinter-filled shirt on the bed, he stood up to see who was coming up the stairs.  
  
David barreled into the bunkroom at top speed, gasping. It was now almost 5 o'clock - he must have beaten the ½ mile run, when he sprinted all the way to the Lodging House - and he had only an hour and a half to correct this whole mess before Sarah came after him with Papa's chain saw. Not looking where he was going, David ran right into Jack's chest, knocking them both to the floor.  
  
"Oof! Whatcha doin, Davey? Runnin the marathon or something?" Jack pushed his friend off him and sat up. 'Wheah's the fiah?"  
  
"Sorry....Jack....I...didn't ....see you....there." David was still out of breath and getting the wind knocked outta him didn't help. "Help....me up."  
  
Jack obligingly gave David a hand, and now both were sitting on the floor of the bunkroom, leaning against some beds. Jack impatiently waited for David to speak.  
  
"Ok, listen Jack." David began. "Don't interrupt me till I'm finished cause I got a lot to say and I don't want you to mess me up. Ok, remember when I told you about three weeks ago that day on the docks that I wanted you to ask me before you asked Sarah and then I passed out and then you must think that I was serious because Sarah overheard you talking to Blink and Crutchy and now she's really mad at me and she tried to kill me back at the apartment!" David said this all in one breath, really fast, and Jack was looking at him like he was a freak.  
  
"Davey, I didn undastand a wiod ya jist said. Say it a bit slowa, ok? Now, start again."  
  
"Jack...that stuff I told you about you having to ask me before you ask Sarah? Just forget about it. I was drunk. I never thought you would take me seriously and Sarah overheard you talking...."  
  
''Sarah ovaheard me? When?" Jack asked, astonished.  
  
" I think it was today sometime, after work. She came back to the apartment mad as a wet hen and started throwing stuff at me....anyway, just forget about it. It was stupid. I know you want to propose to her, so just do it already!"  
  
"Ya mean it, Davey? Crips, I was niovus dere foa a minit. I thought you'se was fa real and I couldn't bring meself ta do anything.....anyway, dis is great. Now I'se jist got to.....whats that word, Davey? You know, ta get it all tagetha?"  
  
"Organize?" David guessed, amused.  
  
"Yeah, dat's it. Orginize. So, I think it should take me....mebbe a week? 10 days? Let's see, I'll need ta polish da ring....get some flowas....."  
  
"No, no no! Jack, listen, its gotta be today!" David said with alarm. "Sarah doesn't know I was drunk then, and I can't tell her. So you gotta propose today, so she doesn't think that you waited all this time to propose just because of me...."  
  
"Davey, ya must be dreamin. I can't propose today....I'se, well....I'se too scared, Davey." Jack looked down, ashamed. Twisting his hands, he continued. "I'se sacred. What if she tions me down? I'll neva get ova it."  
  
David resisted the urge to burst out laughing. Who was Jack kidding? Sarah, refuse? David saw the way his sister smelled the sweater Jack had accidentally left at their apartment every night before she went to sleep. G-d know why she would want to - newsies hardly even got a chance to wash their clothes, because they usually only had one pair. Jack was no exception. But they always said love was blind. Maybe it didn't have a sense of smell, either.....  
  
"Listen, Jack, she isn't gonna refuse. She loves you, and you know it. You guys are meant to be together. And just think, the sooner you guys get married, the sooner we'll be related! So get out there and kick some ass." David punched Jack in the arm in a friendly way.  
  
Turning serious, David said softly, leaning in close, "Jack, forget about me for a moment. If you don't propose soon, she's gonna get worried. And then she's gonna get hurt. And that's the last thing both of us wanna do." David smiled. "Even if she did try to murder her boyfriends best friend."  
  
Jack looked up from the frayed string he had been playing with in his lap. Thoughtfully, he looked into David's blue eyes and freckled face, so different from Sarah's, but with the same lovable ness and kindness sketched in. They were the only family he had, Jack realized. Why wait to make it legal?  
  
"Lets go!" Jack yelled, a smile lighting up his handsome face. Jumping up, he grabbed an elated (and relived) David off the floor. Thumping down the stairs and out of the Lodging House, the two friends ran to the Jacob's apartment.  
  
Arriving at the fire escape's bottom stair, Jack took a deep breath, straightened his bandanna, and turned to David.  
  
"Davey, I jist wanna say you'se the best friend I eva had. And even though ya stupid sometimes, I tink this is the right think ta do." Jack grinned up at the window four floors up, and patted the box in his pocked he had remembered to grab before him and David ran out of the bunkroom.  
  
Then an expression of frustration darkened Jack's face and he turned to David. Nervously, David wondered what was wrong.....  
  
"Before we go up, Davey, can ya jist scratch my back? Yeah, right thea.....ya, dat's it......" 


	6. Happily Ever After

THANKS EVERYONE AGAIN FOR YOUR REVIEWS. I CANT TELL YOU HOW MUCH THEY MEAN TO ME. NOTE TO EVERYONE WHO HATES SARAH - WHAT DID SHE EVER DO TO YOU? I CANT UNDERSTAND WHY EVERYONE MAKES HE OUT TO BE SOME EVIL PERSON OR A MINDLESS TWIT. THE MOVIE CERTAINLY DOESN'T MAKE HER OUT TO BE THAT WAY! ANYWAY, HERE'S THE REST OF MY STORY. HOPE YOU ENJOYED IT AS MUCH AS I LOVED WRITING IT!!! ;-)  
  
Dinner was finishio! Sarah put down the pot of vegetable soup on the counter. Thank goodness Papa and Mama aren't going to be home until late, she thought with relief. As much as Papa loved to sit down at a formal table every night, he's not the one that does the dishes three times a week!  
  
Sarah took off the apron she wore over her soft blue skirt and crossed the worn rug on the floor to her youngest brother. Les was sitting innocently on the king-sized bed off the dining room, tossing a yarn ball up and down.  
  
"High times, hard times, sometimes there's nothing to eat. Aaaaand sometimes..." Les jumped ten feet in the air when he felt a hand on his shoulder and a giggle reach his ears. Turning angrily around, he saw Sarah looking at him, her brown eyes sparkling.  
  
"Sarah! What was dat foa? Ya trying ta scah me ta death? Why I outta......" Les cracked up before he could finish his sentence. Whenever he tried that overpowering New York accent on his sister, trying to sound like her boyfriend, he always got a laugh out of her. But Sarah wasn't laughing this time.  
  
Instead, she was looking at he watch with an angry scowl. It was almost 6:30, David was back yet from wherever he had scampered off to, and she was still pissed as hell at him. Besides, she was really worried about the whole issue. Was David's stupidity giving Jack second thoughts? She grew chilled at the very thought. Jack was her life, she murmured, echoing his words of a few hours ago. I would never be able to live, knowing that he was loving someone else. She felt her hands clench into tight balls.  
  
Les, while his sister was in deep serious thought, had wandered off to the room all three siblings shared. Jumping from one bed to the next, he circled the room three times before landing on David's with a breathless laugh. Guiltily, he looked around. Mama hated when he jumped on the precious feather mattresses.  
  
Unexpectedly, he heard footsteps coming up the fire escape. Tumbling off the bed, he ran to the window to watch as Jack and David pounded up the rickety metal steps.  
  
"Hey Jack! Guess what?" Les started to say to Jack, hanging onto his shirt. "Yesterday when I was out sellin...."  
  
"Listen, Les, I cant really chat right now. Is ya sista hea? I need to speak ta ha. Tell ha I'm on the fire escape, k?" Jack pushed off his little barnacle and hopped back out the way he had come.  
  
"Let's go, squirt. Sarah's probably is wondering where we are. Don't say a word about Jack, only to tell her that he's on the fire escape, alright?" David warned his little brother, who was squirming in David's strong grasp.  
  
"And don't bother them, either. Jack has something very important to tell Sarah. Got it?" Giving his sibling a little shake, both brothers walked out of the bedroom to face the present woman of the house.  
  
"Where have you been?" Sarah glared at David, who was giving her a very strange look. "You think that by running away I'm going to forget everything? Well, let me tell you...."  
  
"Sarah, Sarah...." Les was pulling at his sister's skirt. She ignored him, well into her rant, all her pent up feelings of hurt and sorrow and disappointment and betrayal bursting out of her. But before she was able to finish, she felt the tugging again. She reached out a hand to swat Les away....but her hand froze mid-air as the word Les was urgently saying registered.  
  
"Sarah! SARAH! Jack is out on the fire escape waiting for you! Hurry!" Sarah looked down in surprise. Finally, I got through her thick head, Les thought irritably. Mushy-stuff. It always works on her.  
  
"Oh my gosh! Les, are you serious? I got to go!" Sarah threw her apron off and dashed out of the room without a back ward glace.  
  
David and Les took one look at each other, wiped their foreheads simultaneously, and collapsed as one onto the bed.  
  
Back on the fire escape, Jack was fidgeting from nerves and impatience. The velvet box he held was damp from his sweaty hands. Looking at the window, he heard voices being raised and then stop abruptly. Then he saw Sarah, with an amazing smile on her face come flying into the bedroom, out the window and into his arms.  
  
They hugged in silence for a few minutes, each savoring the feel of the other's body encompassing them. Or, at least Sarah did. Jack didn't have that much encompassing going on, because Sarah's head only came to his shoulders. But it was enough.  
  
After awhile Jack broke the embrace, pushing gently on Sarah's shoulder so he could see into those beloved eyes. Smiling, he reached into his pocket and, tracing his hand down the length of her arm, got down on one knee.  
  
Sarah sniffed. She was almost crying from joy. Those caramel eyes were boring into her own, full of love and passion and something else......was that fear? But she didn't have time to dwell on it as Jack took her smooth hand onto his calloused one.  
  
"Sarah..." Jack hemmed and hawed, clearing his throat before he went on. "Sarah....I'se been meanin to ax ya dis foa a long time.....I really love ya, Sarah. If you only knew how much......." Jack shook his head at his mushiness. He looked up into his love's shining, expectant eyes.  
  
"Sarah...Sarah, will ya do the me da hona of becoming me wife?" Jack asked softly. "Please say yes...."  
  
Sarah looked at Jack, the tears finally falling. Never mind that Jack was kneeling on a fire escape in the middle of New York City, with the neighbor's pantaloons flapping in the breeze next to them. That her brothers were in the next room, listening to every word. That she was wearing one of her oldest dresses, the one with the big patch in the side.  
  
None of these things mattered, Sarah thought, as they crossed her mind for the fraction of a second. It didn't matter that she wasn't being proposed to in a posh restaurant, with a candles burning and music playing. This was her love, her Jack.  
  
Tenderly, she reached out a hand to stroke his cheek. With a smile that would have broken any heart, she leaned over, looking into Jack's eyes, until she was nose to nose. Leaning in all the way, she brought her lips to his, pulling Jack up into a standing position as the kiss deepened.  
  
She felt Jack's hard arms wrapping around her, swinging her around. Giggling, she pulled away from his and rubbed his nose with hers, as they both laughed from the sheer joy and wonder of being in love, of finding your soul mate, that comes only once in a lifetime.  
  
With one hand, Jack flipped open the small jewelry box and pulled out a silver ring, set with a small, heart-shaped diamond.  
  
Setting Sarah down, he slipped the flashing jewel onto her finger, its fire bright in the fading light.  
  
"I'se been saving up foa almost a yea. I wouldda got something bigga, but dis was all I could afford...." He looked at Sarah, a blush coloring his face. "Do ya like it?"  
  
Sarah looked at her finger as if it wasn't attached to her body. How different it looked with something so amazing attached to it......she tilted her head so her eyes met his.  
  
"If I didn't know you always asked stupid questions, Jack Kelly, I would have smacked you." She laughed, the smile she gave him smoothing out any fears Jack might have had.  
  
"I love it. I'll never take it off." She whispered.  
  
Jack thought he could never he happier. His heart swelled so big he was afraid he was going to crack his ribs. After all the troubles he had undergone in his short life, finally, finally something was going right.  
  
Grinning, he pulled Sarah close for another kiss as the stars came out to watch them. Inside each of their hearts, a sparking candle burned, lighting up both soul's private darkness. 


End file.
